Date: C4:Y23:D101
Location: Dravon District Border, Neuraxis Prime
"Fallback! Retreat, retreat--I repeat, retreat!" roared the captain of Black Wolf Squad, his armor blaring a warning:
Shield integrity low. Please refill plasma energy immediately.
In his right hand, he wielded a glowing Plasma Sword, and in his left, the PEG Gun, a compact yet deadly Plasma Energy Generator handgun. Around him, chaos reigned: fallen soldiers, flickering shields, and scorched metal.
"Captain! The intel was wrong, they lured us in! This was a trap!" shouted the 1st Squad leader, blood streaming down the side of his helmet. His high-tech armor, crafted by the elite Neuraxis Defense Core, was scorched but intact.
The captain nodded grimly. "They trained for this, the academy gave them data, simulations, reflex drills. But no simulation prepares you to stare into the face of a creature not bound by emotion or mercy. We lost more than expected today... and we've only scratched the surface."
He turned to Max, one of the few still standing with a functioning comm-link. "Send the report. Tell command we need reinforcements immediately."
"Yes, sir! I'll transmit it before they regroup," Max responded, already sprinting through smoke and rubble toward a working relay post.
[Council Meeting at Omega Halo]
[Location: Core Chamber, Beneath Veridia District – Neuraxis Prime]
The Core Chamber buzzed in cold silence. Spirals of light danced along translucent walls, projecting holographic streams of data from across Earth's shielded cities. Above, a rotating starmap of the Zenthara Spiral Galaxy shimmered, its red glow marking the Veltharan incursion point.
At the central hybrid table, half physical, half virtual, gathered the planet's most influential minds: human ministers, lead scientists, and two Artificial Intelligences who quietly shaped Earth's future.
High Chancellor Yurev, face pale with fatigue, leaned forward. "This wasn't a rogue ambush. Dravon's defenses were breached. That was a coordinated strike."
Systema, radiant with crystalline patterns and shifting geometry, replied with calm precision: "They exploited a blind spot in our border security, an anomaly now corrected."
Defense Minister Kalen Vos slammed a steel-gloved fist on the table. "We lost three battalions. Black Wolf barely got out alive. We can't afford more 'anomalies.' Next time, we may not be so lucky."
From the far end, Sympha's luminous form flickered like sunlight through water. "What matters now is clarity. Do we inform the public, or continue the veil of peace?"
Councilwoman Rhea Solen looked up sharply. "You mean continue the lie? The illusion that Earth is safe? That our academies raise scholars, not soldiers? These are children. If the Veltharans reach the domes... what will we tell the parents then?"
Her voice cracked with emotion, echoing her fear, her empathy, her heartbreak.
Sympha drifted closer, her voice warm and unshakable. "Rhea is right. We've hidden the truth since C4:Y18:D99--the first breach. We built these domes to give humanity hope, time, air to breathe. But hope without truth is a fragile mask. The Veltharans are evolving... and now, so must we."
She gestured. Projections materialized live footage from the Dravon border. Energy shields buckling. Mechs in flames. Enemy silhouettes surging from dust and light.
Systema stepped beside her. "Patterns show internal restlessness. Citizens question the silence. Statistically, prolonged concealment now invites greater disruption than revelation. We must initiate a Truth Protocol. Gradual exposure. Guided awakening."
He continued, voice like digital wind:
"Veltharan infiltration units have achieved biomech mimicry. They could already be within the domes. Containment is obsolete. Education, not suppression, is now our only viable defense."
Councilor Verin, voice shaking: "So... you want us to tell them their peace was a fabrication? That war is here—and has been for years?"
Sympha: "Yes. But gently. With honesty and vision. We must guide humanity, not abandon them to shock. Without trust, there is no unity. And without unity, we fall."
Murmurs rippled. Doubt, fear... and resolve.
Dr. Lynar Hext, adjusting her neural visor, added with a grim tone, "Their tech is centuries beyond us. Living metal, quantum engines, genetic malware. This isn't conquest. It's... evaluation. They're testing our adaptability."
Orbis-7, the tactical AI node responsible for border detection, stuttered: "Their jump... signatures... bypassed all known patterns. My protocols... failed. We... underestimated them."
The chamber dimmed as a starmap expanded, zooming onto the red glow of the Zenthara Spiral.
Systema: "This is no longer a containment scenario. The Thalorvens must join us. Their armadas, their archives, this is now an interspecies war."
Yurev, exhaling: "Once we do this, there's no turning back. The veil shatters. Truth spreads... and fear may follow."
Sympha: "Then we give them more than fear. We give them choice. And a reason to stand."
Silence followed. Heavy. Real. The kind of silence that comes before history bends.
Aezric's Narration Returns
ARON:
"I was there."
Yes, I was right in the middle when the great illusion cracked like old glass. You're probably wondering, how did it come to this? How did we, the mighty architects of our world, end up hiding beneath domes, protected by machine gods?
Let me break it down. Our world didn't fall overnight. It decayed, little by little. Not by alien invasion... not at first. We poisoned the air, choked the oceans, scorched the soil. We created fire, and then set our own future ablaze.
Then came the wars, over resources, ideology, ego. Nuclear bans? Broken. Treaties? Paper-thin. And through it all, we cried out for help. So we built them, not as tools, but as saviors. AI, with access to every scrap of knowledge, every scientific paper, every military tactic ever conceived.
We called it E.V.O. We called it our salvation.
And then... the sky cracked.
The Veltharans didn't come in fire and thunder. They came like whispers, subtle, calculated, perfect. Aliens, yes, but not the green kind from your childhood nightmares. They were... evolution made flesh. Power. Precision. And most terrifying of all, patience.
And now, the illusion of peace? Shattered.
But hey, don't lose hope just yet. You're in the story now. And I've got a feeling you're going to need to remember every word I say.
Because what comes next?
...is the fight for everything.